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Io's Atmosphere Is Decimated Daily

August 23, 2016

Written byCuriosity Staff

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In case the towering sulfur eruptions, rock tides, and lakes of molten lava weren't enough to keep you away, Jupiter's moon Io now has another reason humans probably shouldn't visit: its atmosphere is constantly being destroyed and rebuilt. According to a 2016 article in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Jupiter's massive shadow is to blame. Every time Io passes behind Jupiter, its surface temperature drops and its sulfur-dioxide-rich atmosphere begins to collapse and eventually freeze into a thin layer of frost on the moon's surface. But like a sunbather beneath the world's largest cloud, Io soon begins to thaw out and warm up again as it passes out of Jupiter's shadow. That warming makes the frost re-sublimate, or turn back into gas, and the atmosphere rebuilds. Learn more about Jupiter's strange moons with the videos below.